A quick update on my “digital garden” project.
Things are coming together. I have decided to use Prezi for the site itself, and bought a paid educational membership. The one problem with Prezi is that it really isn’t meant for blocks of text – this is where MB comes in. I’ve decided to cross-post to MB everything I add to Prezi (except when I add small updates to a pre-existing element). If the element involves a large block of text, then I will provide a link and a summary on Prezi to the MB post.
The focus of the digital garden, to be entitled, like my MB site, “Wond’ring Aloud,” has changed somewhat. I am creating a topic called “Flywheel,” which is where I intend to publish my explorations into making my life more sustainable ecologically, economically, and emotionally. This is where I can put my research and actions regarding things like solar power, heating and cooling, gardening and food, transportation, and so forth. I’m calling it “Flywheel” because the basic premise is that I am tired of waiting for the mass of our culture to start behaving in a thoughtful fashion about our lifestyle, and instead I’m proceeding as if I am simply adding my own single push toward sustainability using my own life and specific situation as the starting point.
In addition, I will have another topic called “Words, Words, Words,” where I will put things like reviews of books I’ve read and the ideas that have arisen from them. A third topic will be called “Negative Capability” after John Keats' useful concept: “When a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” This will likely be where I address more philosophical, spiritual, and speculative ideas. There will be a “Tech” topic where I’ll describe the architecture of my site, as well as any explorations of the technological world I undertake, and a “Flashes (of Inspiration)” topic, which is basically a “fleeting thoughts/commonplace book” area. Finally, there will be a “Table of Contents” that will help people get oriented and explore the area(s) of the garden they find most interesting. In this area, I will have a “Captain’s Log” where I keep a reverse-chronological list of changes I’ve made on Prezi – that way, a repeat visitor can simply check in for changes since their last visit (assuming there are visitors, and that they come back more than once). Of course, more topics can be added later as needed.
I’m currently building the Prezi site and learning more of the ins-and-outs of that application, and I’m having fun! I’m finding a structure for my own retirement life and learning, and I think a side benefit will be motivation for continued home improvement projects.